Aiming to develop, investment group buys Palmer school site in W. Poplar

An investment group has purchased the site of the failed Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners Charter School near Northern Liberties, with plans for the parcel that could include housing and retail use.

American Investment Partners acquired the 1.5-acre parcel at 910 N. Sixth St. on Jan. 15, according to Andrew Yaffe, the group's president. He would not say how much the group paid.

The transaction, about a year after the Palmer school abandoned the property, comes amid a flurry of real estate activity in the West Poplar neighborhood, just west of heavily redeveloped Northern Liberties.

"This was a core piece of real estate in a neighborhood that's lacking developable real estate," Yaffe said. "It ties directly into the epicenter of the neighborhood."

Developers are turning their attention to West Poplar - as well as to Fishtown to the north - as it becomes harder to find development opportunities in built-up Northern Liberties proper.

Among the recently constructed projects east of the North Fifth Street boundary with Northern Liberties is a row of townhouses on Poplar Street just south of the Palmer school site, one of which has sold for $702,000, according to city records.

The neighborhood also boasts a branch of the trendy Philadelphia fried-chicken chain Federal Donuts near Seventh Street and Fairmount Avenue.

Developers in West Poplar are "building for a market that wants to be in Northern Liberties," real estate agent Michael Garden said. "Northern Liberties is out of developable sites."

Now situated on the Palmer property is a 10-year-old structure built for the charter school with $11 million in taxpayer-backed bonds. Proceeds from the site's sale are expected to be used to pay creditors.

The school had been in the middle of charter-revocation proceedings on financial grounds and for poor academic performance when it announced it would close Dec. 31, 2014, citing insurmountable funding problems.

The closure disrupted staff and sent 675 students in kindergarten through eighth grade scrambling to find new schools.

Yaffe said American Investment Partners had not yet decided whether to reuse the school building for the group's development plans or to demolish it and build new.

The group's lead investors include David Adelman, chief executive of student-housing developer Campus Apartments Inc. and a cofounder of Franklin Square Capital Partners.

The group also is building an eight-townhouse development in Fishtown.

Various uses are being considered for the Palmer property, including multifamily residential, townhouses, and retail, Yaffe said.

"Right now, we are evaluating best uses for the property that work in the neighborhood there," he said. "Everything's on the table."

Source: Philly.com